Further £8m secured for Tower Block fire safety work at Torbay Hospital
Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust has secured a further £8 million for fire safety work in Torbay Hospital’s Tower Block and confirmed temporary service changes that will reduce occupancy in the building.
The additional funding comes on top of £1.8 million announced in September and will support substantial work to improve fire compartmentation in the Tower Block.
The safety of patients, staff and visitors remains the Trust’s absolute priority. The fire safety risks associated with the Tower Block are not new. They have been recognised and actively managed over many years through a range of measures including staff training, evacuation planning, fire safety improvements and ongoing investment, undertaken in partnership with Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service and other agencies.
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service has confirmed that recent changes made by the Trust have reduced the risk, while further action is needed to fully meet the requirements of its Enforcement Notice. The Service has extended the deadline from 06 November to 18 December to allow the Trust to complete the necessary actions.
The temporary service changes will reduce the number of people being cared for in the Tower Block at any one time, while maintaining as much inpatient capacity as safely possible.
No services are being closed and all will remain within Torbay and South Devon. Most of the changes involve services moving within Torbay Hospital, with one service moving temporarily to Totnes Community Hospital.
Work to put the temporary arrangements in place will take place during November and early December 2026.
What is changing
The service currently provided from Simpson Ward in the Hetherington Unit at Torbay Hospital will move temporarily to Harbourne Ward at Totnes Community Hospital, bringing currently unused ward space back into use. This will allow respiratory inpatient services currently provided from Midgley Ward in the Tower Block to move temporarily to Simpson Ward.
Services currently provided from Hutchings Day Unit on level 8 will move temporarily to the Horizon Centre on the Torbay Hospital site.
For inpatient services remaining in the Tower Block, the Trust will change how ward space is used to reduce occupancy. These changes will affect the services provided from Allerton and Cromie Wards, with Allerton Ward caring for people across levels 7 and 8 and Cromie Ward caring for people across levels 5 and 6.
Together, these temporary changes will reduce occupancy in the Tower Block and support the Trust to maintain as much inpatient capacity as safely possible.
The arrangements will remain under review as the fire safety work progresses.
Anyone directly affected by the temporary changes will receive information directly from the teams caring for them. People should continue to attend appointments in their usual location unless they hear directly from the Trust that the location is changing.
Separate from these temporary arrangements, the Trust has been developing Same Day Emergency Care at Torbay Hospital. The short-stay assessment service previously provided from EAU4 is now being delivered through an expanded Same Day Emergency Care service, helping more people receive assessment, diagnostics and treatment and return home the same day where an inpatient admission is not needed.
A 12-bed Medical Assessment Unit has also been created. The former EAU4 space on level 4 is now the discharge lounge, which is not open overnight.
Fire compartmentation work in the Tower
Alongside the temporary service changes, the Trust is developing the programme of fire compartmentalisation work in the Tower Block.
The detailed construction programme is still being finalised and remains subject to the final fire strategy and the necessary building safety approvals. On the current programme, work is expected to begin on the first ward floor in spring 2027 and then progress through the Tower one floor at a time.
The first ward floor is expected to be completed in summer 2027, with the second expected to be completed in early autumn. This is expected to allow two full wards to return to operation while work continues on the remaining floors.
The overall programme is currently expected to be completed by February 2028.
Joe Teape, Chief Executive, said:
“There are no easy answers when managing some of the oldest NHS estate in the country or making changes of this kind.
“We now have the further investment we need to carry out the compartmentation work in the Tower and a practical way forward that keeps services within Torbay and South Devon.
“I am sincerely grateful to our teams and colleagues for continuing to work through the detail, challenge our thinking and make sure we have properly considered what this means for the people and communities we serve.
“I also want to recognise the strong support we are receiving from our NHS and local authority partners and I am grateful for the constructive way Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service and the Care Quality Commission have engaged with us as we have worked through what needs to happen.”
Dr Mark Roberts, Deputy Medical Director, said:
“We’ve thought very carefully about how we continue to care for people while reducing the number of patients staying overnight in parts of the Tower Block.
“These changes have accelerated plans to improve how we deliver elements of care on our acute and community hospital sites. This includes greater focus on same day emergency care services and targeted pathways to improve treatment, recovery, and rehabilitation closer to home.
“Making sure each of those parts works well together helps us keep hospital beds available for patients who need inpatient care.”
Nicola McMinn, Chief Nurse, said:
“Behind every part of this plan are individual patients and the care they need.
“Our teams have looked carefully at which patients can be safely cared for in each setting, the facilities available and the clinical, nursing and therapy support they will need. We have also thought carefully about the colleagues who will be working differently as a result.
“There is a lot of detail to get right and we will keep working closely with our teams as we put the temporary arrangements in place.”
Joe Teape added:
“I’m grateful to our local MPs for their continued support and for helping us make the case for the investment Torbay Hospital needs.”
Steve Darling MP for Torbay said:
“It is excellent news that we have secured the necessary funding for the Tower Block at Torbay Hospital from NHS England’s regional team. This will allow the Trust to carry out the fire safety work needed while protecting as much hospital capacity as safely possible.
“However, serious questions need to be asked about why it took a crisis to break at Torbay Hospital for this money to be released.”
